Chad Reuters saying we are one of 3 losers in round 1. The Cowboys and the 49ers are the others.

People are acting like Wright is only a vertical threat, but he can catch a short pass and make things happen. He's like a RB with the ball in his hands.

To me, Wright truly was the 2nd best player on the board behind DeCastro. According to Mayock, Wright was #16 overall and DeCastro was the #24 prospect. They're ripping us for not taking Chandler Jones and Mercilus, but I really never felt either of those two were worthy of the #20 spot.

Say what you want about the pick, but I don't think it warrants us being a draft loser

I'll be honest, I would be fine with Wright if Decastro wasn't there. Mainly because I really didn't want anyone else in the first round.

But hey, I hated the Chris Johnson pick as well...so maybe it'll work out.

this reminds me a lot of the chris johnson pick. I liked Chris Johnson and had heard rumors we would select him, but I remember always saying "but we don't need a RB, we have good enough ones in LenDale White and maybe Chris Henry will show up". We had a lot bigger needs at that point in time, but CJ2K has helped us win ALOT of games

Needless to say, I think he'll be a good player and show why he was the best pick possible

The main reasons they brought in Ayers were not only because of his pass-rushing ability, but also his ability to set the edge in the running game.

I haven't read up (unless someone here said it and now it's just subconciously on my mind), but I think the reason Ayers wasn't used to blitz often was because of his inexperience. They probably didn't want to overload him with learning all the coverage schemes, blitz packages, and his other assignments.

I'm still not spending a high 2nd on a LB just to set the edge. He wasn't used much in nickle. I also thought maybe they didn't want to put to much on his plate, but it was actually Munch or Gray (maybe both) who said in an article half way through the season that they needed to use his pass rush ability more, yet they still didn't do it. And the easiest thing they could have told him to do was put his hand down and rush the passer.

If they use Ayers skillset to it's potential this year, I'll be relieved, but it's easy to see why anyone would be a bit concerned.

Now with all we've invested in receiving threats (two 1sts, a 2nd, Nate's contract, trading a 2nd and spending a 3rd to get Cook), if we don't sling the ball around a lot, how are we going to get a good return on our investment? I didn't think of the Titans turning into the Colts or Texans, but they are sure building the team that way. I guess we won't be the old Titans that I love, but we better have a legit plan for a new direction and be able to utilize it.

I really liked Ayers, and after watching him early in the process I wanted him as our 1st round pick. So to get him in the 2nd was a thrill for me.

This guy can do it all, set the edge, pass rush from the OLB and DE positions, drop into coverage. The problem I remember hearing is that he's not a real bright guy and they said he could have trouble learning a playbook.

This is why at UCLA he often was told to rush the passer and make plays. I'm just hoping he's not LaVar Arrington dumb

How we utilize the pick and the direction the team is heading talk aside, I like Wright as a player. I only saw a little of him before the draft, but now I've seen and read a lot more and he looks worthy of being selected there. So when the Titans say he was their highest rated guy left on the board, I trust that.

Now with all we've invested in receiving threats (two 1sts, a 2nd, Nate's contract, trading a 2nd and spending a 3rd to get Cook), if we don't sling the ball around a lot, how are we going to get a good return on our investment? I didn't think of the Titans turning into the Colts or Texans, but they are sure building the team that way. I guess we won't be the old Titans that I love, but we better have a legit plan for a new direction and be able to utilize it.

We threw for over 4000 yards last season, not like we didn't sling it last season. We just didn't have much of a vertical threat. We were only 18th in avg, the lowest of any team in the top 12 in yards

We are 100% going through a philosophy change. We saw it a little last year, but at the time it seemed forced since Hass and Britt were putting up massive numbers and CJ was struggling. I figured they were just going with it: if you sell out for CJ, we'll sling it around and score through the air.

We're going to be a pass-first team soon, and it'll be by choice this time. I said earlier it felt like we were being copycats of the Packers. Wright is our Jennings, Britt is our Jordy, Damian is our Driver, Hands is our James Jones, Cookie is our Jermichael Finley, and we got nobody for Randall Cobb (Man their receiving corps is deep). Lavelle Hawkins plays by himself in the corner until he needs to randomly catch a crucial 3rd down pass, while Marc Mariani inexplicably takes a KR to the house but somehow later struggles to outrun a LB on offense. I've repeatedly seen Locker compared to Aaron Rodgers before too, but it's more as a "completely fulfills potential" kinda comparison.

Factor in our OL being amazing in protection (and their hesitation to mess with it apparently) and drafting a WR in the 1st, and it seems that the coaches are tipping their hand. If they wanted to re-establish our ground and pound identity, then DeCastro is probably the pick. That's a simple fix, and combining him with Hutch sets up the run game perfectly. But since they passed and took a WR, it makes it appear that they think the passing game is much more important than the running game, so they choose to bolster it, even if it means letting the run game stay a liability. They want to be a passing team.

This is going to be the Locker show, whether for good or for bad. CJ2K is now a support piece. But if Locker becomes what he should, then this offense is petrifying.

Also, since this hasn't really been pointed out yet (unless I missed it, but I think Mighty brought up some individual points), but Kendall Wright is absolutely, positively perfect for Palmer's offensive scheme. There's a lot of WCO stuff, but he also incorporates the deep passing game (and I believe plenty of P/A stuff too). This is why Wright is a better fit for us than Stephen Hill. Wright is a playmaker with the ball in his hand, so those short WCO slants will be money, and when Locker unleashes his (gorgeous) deep ball, Wright has the speed to get downfield and torch the defense.

We threw for over 4000 yards last season, not like we didn't sling it last season. We just didn't have much of a vertical threat. We were only 18th in avg, the lowest of any team in the top 12 in yards

So with a healthy Britt and another 1st round WR, how much production should we expect? Yeah we did 4,000...w/o Britt and Wright. With them, Nate, Cook, Williams, and Hawk, wouldn't you expect to go from 12 to at least top 5 with all we've invested? We'll need to sling it a lot more, the top 5 teams had 1,000-1,500 yards more.

Just getting Britt back I expect to jump up, but if we aren't at least a top 5 passing team, I'll be disappointed. This team has now been built to be a top passing team, I'm just a bit surprised by it, and I wonder how solid our plan is. We don't have Breese, Brady, Rodgers, etc either. We better hope our QB's can deliver.

But don't get me wrong, with this roster I'm excited to think of us as a top passing team with CJ having more room to run. It's not old school Titans ball, but I can accept change. I just hope we have a good plan for it.

Was Wright BPA? No. He wasn't a reach, but he wasn't this elite prospect that we just couldn't believe fell to us. Hell, he wasn't even the best WR available depending on who you asked (although I think I take Wright over Hill).

This part I just can't get on board with (unless you are talking about your own personal rankings, then I can see what you're saying, although it's not really relevant in the grand scheme of things). You say that Wright wasn't BPA, and yet later say that we didn't have a glaring need at WR... well, those are the two things that cause teams to pull the trigger on guys. They are either drafting who they believe to be the best player left, or they're drafting to fill a roster hole. I think most of us would agree that WR wasn't a huge, glaring need, so SOMETHING caused them to pick him - I think it's pretty clear they held him in higher regard than the other players left on board and had him as the BPA.

We as fans are all guilty of complaining about past picks being reaches just to fill needs, yet on this occasion it appears that they did not reach to fill need - they took who their board dictated. It might not have been who we thought was the best player left, but I think most signs point to him being the best player they thought was left, and I at least have gotta give em props for that.

I loved DeCastro as a player, but really, I can't get too upset about passing on a Guard. I think the Steelers have enough dynamic play makers at multiple levels and on both sides of the ball to get away with drafting a Guard in rd 1. I don't believe that we have enough difference makers to pass one up if we believe one is staring us in the face.

I do agree with you about an offensive philosophy change with our new staff though, and personally, I like it, although I do prefer hard nosed defensive football. But things are a-changin'.